Carrot tops, let’s root out this ‘ginger hate’

Incredibly, redheads face more prejudice than ethnic minorities. Do we need a law to protect them, asks Roland White

The wild Duchess of York conforms to a number of redhead stereotypes (Mike Coppola)

D
anny Alexander’s rise to the cabinet only five years after being a press
officer for the Cairngorms national park was remarkable enough. Even as a
Liberal Democrat MP — especially as a Liberal Democrat MP — he could not
have guessed that one day he would be chief secretary to the Treasury. But
new research has highlighted another career obstacle that Alexander has
successfully overcome: his hair colour.

Discrimination against the ginger-haired is now one of the most intractable
forms of inequality, according to a think tank, the Centre for Equality
Policy Research (CfEPR). Its latest report shows that, per head of
population, redheads suffer more discrimination than ethnic minorities. Only
disabled people suffer more.

“Incredibly, this is an area of prejudice that has been largely overlooked,”
says Sarah Ahmed, director of the CfEPR. “Yet the evidence is overwhelming.”